News
Article
Pregnant Individuals With MS More Likely to Experience Mental Illness
Author(s):
Key Takeaways
- Pregnant individuals with MS have a higher risk of mental illness during pregnancy and postpartum compared to those without MS.
- MS predominantly affects women, who are already at increased risk for depressive, anxiety, and bipolar disorders.
Pregnant individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to experience mental illness both during their pregnancy and in the first years after giving birth.
A recent American Academy of Neurology study found that pregnant individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to experience mental illness both during their pregnancy and in the first years after giving birth compared with those without MS. The authors emphasize that these findings show a need for preventative interventions and early treatment of mental illness.1
Image credit: Vitalii Vodolazskyi | stock.adobe.com
MS is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease that impacts the central nervous system (CNS), that affects about 3 million individuals worldwide. Of these individuals, approximately 75% are women. Women who have MS present an increased incidence and prevalence of depressive, anxiety, and bipolar disorders compared with women who do not have MS. Additionally, the investigators note that although MS occurs during a period when many individuals are making reproductive decisions, there is little known about the risk of peripartum-related mental illness in women with MS.1
For this study, the investigators enrolled 894,852 pregnant people (median age at conception: 28.6 years) with MS, epilepsy inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and diabetes. Population-based administrative health data from Ontario, Canada, was gathered between 2002 and 2017. The investigators estimated the incidence and prevalence of any mental illness (eg, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, substance use, suicide attempt) during the prenatal (PN) period—defined as conception to birth—and 3 years postpartum. These participants were matched to 869,227 pregnant people who did not have MS or any of the other included conditions (controls).1
Of the enrolled participants, 1745 had MS, 5954 had epilepsy, 4924 had IBD, and 13,002 had diabetes. The results indicated that mental illness affected approximately 8.4% of mothers with MS prenatally, and about 14.2% during the first postpartum year. The most common incident disorders identified were anxiety and depression.1
“Previous studies have shown that women with MS are more likely to have depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder compared to women without MS,” Ruth Ann Marrie, MD, PhD, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and member of the American Academy of Neurology, said in a news release. “Mental health struggles can affect both parents and kids, making it important to understand how mental health challenges around pregnancy affect people with MS.”2
Additionally, the first postpartum year was shown to be a higher risk period than the prenatal period (any mental illness IR 1.27; 95% CI 1.08–1.50). Following adjustment, individuals with MS had an increased incidence of any mental illness during the prenatal (IR 1.26; 95% CI 1.11–1.44) and postpartum (first postpartum year: IR 1.33; 95% CI 1.20–1.47) periods than the healthy controls. With the exception of suicide, participants with MS had an increased incidence of all specific mental illnesses during the prenatal period compared with the included controls. Further, all prevalent mental illness affected approximately 42% of mothers with MS prenatally and 50.3% in the first postpartum year.1
“These findings emphasize the need for preventive and early treatment of mental illness,” said Marrie in the news release. “Future studies should look at how MS affects mental health in mothers during and after pregnancy and if it’s worse in different stages of MS. [Health care professionals] should know about these risks, make sure to check mental health, and provide treatment if needed.”2
